HOW IT ALL BEGAN
20 Apr 2009

The club was formed in 2003 by Fran Westwood, a former Stratford Town Ladies player, as a vehicle for a local girl to continue playing competitive football . News soon spread and before long, there was a squad of 20 girls of varying ages and ability. Using an old kit borrowed from Stratford Town Ladies, they joined the newly formed Coventry and Warwickshire Girls Football League.

In only their second competitive season 2004/2005, the girls had success as they won the U12s 2nd Division title with 5 games of the season remaining. The following season, 2005/2006, the club managed to field 2 sides, one at U12 and one at U14, with Fran recruiting Mike Botterill onto the coaching staff, whose daughter signed for the club.

Again, the club continued to attract interest from girls wanting to play football. In 2006/2007, the club expanded again with squads at U12, U14, and U16, with Gavin Wale coming on board to coach the U12s sponsored by Benavon Homes. The following season, with the introduction of single age groups, Stratford Town Girls fielded sides at U12, U13, U15, and U16, along with a new coach, Dave Jackson. Again the club tasted success, as the U13s won the inauguaral Alveston Invitational Cup, beating hosts Alveston 5-1 on aggregate.

The 2008/2009 season saw a change of direction for the club, as Fran Westwood stood down from her role within the club. A new committee was formed, with Gavin taking over the role of Chairman. All coaches and parent representatives were also members of the new committee with Anne Edwards remaining as Treasurer, and Wendy Wale coming on board as Club Secretary. One of the first roles for the committee was to form an U10 side, playing 7-a-side football, and to be coached by Simon Watts. Alongside the U10s was a radical move to develop even younger players, and a Development Squad was set up under the watchful eye of Mike Botterill. The club also invested in some of its older players, and Nadine Payton, one of last seasons U16s, passed her Level 1 coaching badge, and took on the role of coaching another new side, the U11s, managed by Jason Foytik.So the new season began with 5 sides all competing in the C.W.G.F.L. at U10, U11, U13, U14, and U16 level. New sponsors were found for the U10s and U11s, (Jesters and Cobnobs), and new training facilities were also used for the first time, with all of the squads training on the 3G facility at Knights Lane, Tiddington. Whilst not having the best of seasons on the pitch, the club continued to move forward, and forged links with Stratford Town Ladies, and the two clubs now work extremely closely together hoping to produce the ladies newest recruits.

The new 2009/2010 season is almost over, and the hard work never stops for everyone involved with our club. We fielded 6 sides this season, U10, U11, U12, U14, U15, and U17, with the U17s occasionally training with the ladies to standardize the coaching between the two clubs, with Becky Watts and Gray Dolby coming on board as coaches.

The 2010/2011 season will mean we will field sides at U10, U11, U12, U15, U16, and U18 in the CWGFL. Combined with this, we are also hoping to attract even younger players who will be coached in the basics of football in a fun environment before they hopefully play competitively.

The future of girls football in Stratford upon Avon and surrounding districts looks very bright.